Abstract

After its defeat at the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009, the EU can be considered to have scored a relative success with
the Paris Agreement adopted in December 2015. With the mitigation ambition of the agreement exceeding expectations, the EU
realized its policy objectives to a greater extent than it may have anticipated itself. This success was made possible by
a moderation of the EU’s policy objectives pursued proactively through an EU bridge‐building and coalition‐building strategy.
It was enabled and facilitated by the great‐power politics between China and the US as well as the French Presidency of the
Paris conference. With Paris, the EU thus appears to have consolidated its role as a ‘leadiator’ in international climate
policy, which it took on after the failure of the Copenhagen conference and road‐tested for the first time in Durban in 2011.
In a multipolar climate world, this new role model should remain relevant for the years to come. However, the unpredictability
of the underlying internal and external political, economic, and technological dynamics suggests the wisdom of a regular review
and adjustment of strategy. WIREs Clim Change 2017, 8:e445. doi: 10.1002/wcc.445

Rhinard, M, Kaeding, M. The international bargaining power of the European Union in ‘mixed’ competence negotiations: the case of the 2000 Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. J Common Mark Stud 2006, 44:1023–50. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5965.2006.00672.x.

EU Council. 2015. Preparations for the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 11). Paris 2015, Press Release 657/15. Available at: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press‐releases/2015/09/18‐counclusions‐un‐climate‐change‐conference‐paris‐2015/. (Accessed September 18, 2015).